An international team of researchers has successfully used a modified herpes virus to treat people suffering from aggressive, inoperable skin cancer, the Toronto Sun reported.

The genetically engineered "Talimogene Laherparepve" bettered the condition of 16 percent of the melanoma patients, while only 2 percent of those in a control group reported improvements, the researchers said in their study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The team examined more than 400 individuals with aggressive malignant melanoma, considered the deadliest type of skin cancer, according to Time. Paul Workman, who leads the Institute of Cancer Research in London, told the magazine that the research may lead scientists to look at viruses in a different light.

"We may normally think of viruses as the enemies of mankind," he admitted. "But it's their very ability to specifically infect and kill human cells that can make them such promising cancer treatments," Workman added.

In the trials held in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and South Africa, scientists used the same herpes virus that causes cold sores, though the agent had been modified to make it harmless to patients -- but lethal to cancer, Britain's Sky News noted.

Kevin Harrington, who led the experiment for the Institute of Cancer Research, suggested that the findings marked a true breakthrough.

"It's not an exaggeration to say this is a first-in-class agent, an entirely new type of anti-cancer treatment," he said. "There is increasing excitement over the use of viral treatments like T-Vec for cancer, because they can launch a two-pronged attack on tumours -- both killing cancer cells directly and marshalling the immune system against them," Harrington added.

Even though the scientist admitted that there will be "discussions about cost effectiveness," he noted that the new therapy's advantages may be available to regular patients relatively soon.

"Because viral treatment can target cancer cells specifically, it tends to have fewer side-effects than traditional chemotherapy or some of the other new immunotherapies," Harrington told Sky News. "We hope to see this agent receive approval in about the next 12 months, making it possible to prescribe it for cancer," he added.